CLARK FREEEPORT – The worldwide pattern of unusual weather has prompted the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) to closely monitor 15,000 barangays along 18 major river systems in the provinces nationwide.
At a press conference here, Interior and Local Governments Undersecretary Austere Panadero said his agency is also rushing a complete list of the thousands of families living along these river systems affecting about 500 cities and municipalities in various parts of the country.
“The list will be available in two months,” he said after attending a regional forum on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction attended by local government leaders from all over Central Luzon.
The families are in danger from dangerous floodings amid unusually heavy rains being experienced even in areas formerly not prone to severe weather conditions, he noted.
Panadero said the families affected by the 18 river systems are on top of some 100,000 folk also endangered by water channels in Metro Manila.
This, even as Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, lamented the failure of the government to access available United Nations funding for climate change concerns.
Legarda, in the same press conference, said she will ask Pres. Aquino to designate any financial institution as “national implementing entity” (NIE) to be authorized to seek grants from the Adaptation Fund (AF) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The fund was adopted by the UNFCCC for “concrete (climate change) adaptation projects and programs in developing countries and requires accredited NIE’s to negotiate for funds for such countries.
Significant amounts could be sourced from the AF for local needs, Legarda said, noting that the Philippines is in the list of top 10 countries most ravaged by natural disasters.
“We are so slow. It is a pity that in the past years despite proddings, our government has not availed itself of such funds simply because no NIE has been designated,” said Legarda.
Legarda said that enough preparation could significantly cut down casualties and damages, as she cited “underlying factors” that worsen risks from natural disasters.
She identified them as weak urban governance, unplanned urban development, in appropriate constructions along water channels, concentration of economic resources in limited sectors, and ecosystems decline.
Legarda also stressed the “importance of the sustainable management of the Pampanga River Basin in building resilient communities in Central Luzon.”
“We need to ensure improved management of the Pampanga river basin as the whole of Central Luzon and nearby provinces in Regions I and II will be greatly affected by hazards that would hit the river basin, and the tributaries connected to it form a system that supports life and livelihood of a great proportion of the country,” she stressed.
Legarda pointed out that Central Luzon is an important source of the country’s basic needs, as it is the top producer of rice. In 2011, the region produced 2.6 million metric tons of rice.
She said that the Pampanga River Basin provides about 90 percent of the domestic water needs of Metro Manila.
Legarda noted a study by the Manila Observatory which revealed that Central Luzon is a high risk region, with Pampanga being the second province nationwide most at risk from disasters and climate change.
